Prescribed Fire at Ashton Bio Preserve

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Noah M
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Prescribed Fire at Ashton Bio Preserve

Post by Noah M »

Some of you may know that my wife and I volunteer at a private not-for-profit biological preserve https://ashtonbiodiversity.net/

This past Wednesday they had a prescribed fire with an Florida FWC agent and several State Foresters on hand. The burn was being conducted in June to mimic when a fire might naturally occur. Savannah and scrub ecosystems like Ashton are adapted to fires and many species of plants are serotinous (pyriscence). The last burn on the property was 3 years ago. There were also a number of volunteers around to watch fire lanes and learn about fire ecology. I was present for the former and to document the event for the website and social media.

Ashton is composed of two plots of land that share a small common border in the middle. We first burned the northeast plot, which is a lot of palmetto bushes, oaks, pines, and some grasses. There is a small pond included in this lot as well. The wind was from the north, so the fire crews were first going to start a backing fired along the south end, and then follow up with flank fires on the eastern and western edges, and put a flank fire right down the middle.

After arriving in the morning the fire crew filled up their drip torches.
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And away they went lighting the backing fire.
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While drip torches are fun and great for test burns and demonstrations in fire ecology, the state foresters were here to do a job, so they also used some bigger torches on their 4-wheelers.
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Here is one in action working the eastern pond. This pond has a side that only fills seasonally.
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The dry parts of the pond burned within minutes. On the right, out of frame, is the more permanent part, which did not burn at all.
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Animals don't like fire, and around the ponds and oak hammocks a few critters were seen seeking refuge. These were all seen around the fire lines, often crossing fire lanes.

Eastern Narrowmouth Toad
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Southern Cricket Frog
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One palmetto patch did not burn, and hiding within was this tiny fawn!
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Squirrel Tree Frog
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This huntsman spider was observed on a fence post by a fire lane. I'm not sure if it was just hanging out or if it had climbed up there to escape the flames.
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Here is a fence lizard that took refuge up a tree.
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Ground Skink Run lil buddy!
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Southern Toad
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Gopher Frog
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There were countless crickets, grasshoppers, moths and other insects seen fleeing the fire. I did not see them, but a pygmy rattlesnake and black racer were observed by other volunteers.

I hope you enjoyed!
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Jimi
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Re: Prescribed Fire at Ashton Bio Preserve

Post by Jimi »

Thanks, brings back good memories.

Readers might be surprised & confused about burning an emergent wetland ("marsh"). It's vital to do so pretty often, otherwise organic soils ("muck" in the Florida lexicon) can accumulate rapidly. When water returns the muck creates a biological oxygen demand which can kill gill-breathing organisms. On a big landscape, a mix of muck levels among seasonal ponds is OK. On a small isolated conservation parcel with just one pond, keeping its bottom in a mineral-soil condition is a better management decision. Particularly if part of the parcel objective is to retain breeding populations of gopher frogs, spadefoot toads, & other amphibians.

It's also worth pointing out that oak (especially live oak, vs deciduous oak) leaf litter doesn't carry fire well at all. I mean it's like a fire break, unless you have really high fire danger (those days it's hard to get a burn permit, and most folks are a little hesitant to go for it anyway). On a smart day to light the woods up, if you've got a lot of non-deciduous oak litter you need to use a lot of torch fuel, and some wind really helps too. Sometimes people will use leaf blowers to simulate a wind, if they need to get rid of some of that oak litter to allow native ground cover recovery or restoration. Anyway, in case readers are having some heartburn about skinks, toads etc - lots of small animals survive just fine in the oak clumps. Fire mortality is amazingly low among all sorts of animal groups. It's also about the slowest way to kill many plants, that managers have. In Florida it takes several burns to open up a place and change its plant composition and cover much.

Thanks again for the story & pics Noah. If you have any interest & opportunities to increase the kind and degree of involvement in Rx fire, I strongly encourage it. "You don't know what fun is until you've lit the woods on fire!" I mean for ecological benefit of course, not arson. But it cannot be denied that it is really cool to be on a burn crew, and even more, to be on the ignition team. It's very interesting to see the variability of fire behavior under different fuel & weather conditions. You also learn a lot about your own limits, of physical courage, physical conditioning, and risk tolerance - also interesting and pretty important to come to terms with.

cheers,
Jimi
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Re: Prescribed Fire at Ashton Bio Preserve

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Noah M
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Re: Prescribed Fire at Ashton Bio Preserve

Post by Noah M »

It's also worth pointing out that oak (especially live oak, vs deciduous oak) leaf litter doesn't carry fire well at all.
Yes, I saw this first hand. The waxy coating on the leaves meant they didn't even really get singed. The other thing to mention here was that the preserve property has a very high density of gopher tortoises, and thus many burrows. I bet animal morality was very low because the fire was slow moving and most creatures could retreat down the burrows or take refuge in the oak hammocks.

I also encourage everybody interested in wildlife and ecology to try and attend and work a prescribed burn.
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